The photographic essay “Hotel Rossija” reflects the final hours in the existence of Hotel Rossija before its final demolitian in 2006. Opened in 1967 in Moscow; it was at the time the world’s largest hotel. The hotel was a monumental symbol of the Cold War era and, with its view over the Kremlin was frequented by diplomats, intellectuals, international television teams and prostitutes alike. After Glasnost and the fall of the Iron Curtain, despite great interest from real estate speculation, the building fell into a sharp decline.

On 17 December 2010, clashes occurred in the city Sidi Bouzid (a city in Tunisia) between residents and the police following the public self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, the 27-year-old vegetable vendor Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest against the authorities’ seizure of his goods, after an alleged refusal to pay a bribe to officials, and the police harassment and violence he suffered as a result. He died of his injuries on 4 January 2011.

In early January 2011, more clashes with the police in Sidi Bouzid led to at least 20 deaths. As a direct result, violent protests soon spread through the country, eventually reaching the capital of Tunis. As the uprising intensified, President Ben Ali fled the country on 14 January 2011.

Demolition of old buildings is a daily occurrence in Beirut, where high-rise flats and car parks are taking over the city and dozens of skyscrapers emerge every year — towering over the city’s ancient buildings.

“During the 1990s, the Ministry of Culture put together a list of historical landmarks in the country. The Direction Générale des Antiquités (DGA) included approximately 1,600 buildings in Beirut, most of them from the Ottoman period or the French mandate. As of this year, 80 percent of the buildings on the list have been demolished, say representatives from both APLH and Save Beirut Heritage (SBH).” (Demolishing Lebanese identity / NOW, Lebanon 2013)

“Beirut’s recent history – war and reconstruction – has much in common with several developing cities in the world: uncontrolled urbanization, environmental damages and the concentration of urban transportation along the main coastal corridor.”(PLANS FOR AN UNPLANNED CITY: Beirut / by Eric Verdeil)

“Outside of the center, rampant speculation is radically changing the character of historic neighbourhoods, and gentrifying in the process these neighbourhoods. This is largely due to the failure of the political authorities to develop and implement a new urban plan that limits densities, safeguards historic landmarks, and creates much needed public spaces and green parks. The reconstruction was also controversial at the urban level, as some districts irreversibly lost their character.” (BEIRUT: BETWEEN MEMORY AND DESIRE / by Elie Haddad)

Old buildings in Beirut, symbol of the history on the one side and speculative investments on the other, the demolition is an example for the dynamics of urban spaces caught between the inertia of the past and the historical transformations of the past.

Clashes erupted outside government offices in the Lebanese capital Beirut in October last year. Thousands attended the funeral of security chief Wissam al-Hassan who was killed by a car bomb. Hassan is a pivotal figure in Lebanon. He was heavily involved in the investigation of former information minister Michel Samaha, who is an al-Assad supporter. Hassan earlier led an investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. Opposition figures blamed neighbouring Syria and Hezbollah for the attack. The unrest began after the funeral, the mourners had protested against Syria and its Lebanese allies amid fears the Syrian conflict could spill over. But the confrontation outside the prime minister’s office just lasted for a few minutes, the army shoot in the air to disperse the crowd and most of the protesters went home.

Syrians have fled to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt to escape the violence and the shelling in their hometowns. There are now more than 562,950 as of 27 December registered refugees, according to the latest UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report on Syria.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees “estimates that if fighting in Syria continues the refugee figure could reach 1.1 million by June 2013,” the report added.

Aid groups say hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled the 21-month old conflict without registering with UN agencies.

In Wadi Khaled (Lebanon) refugees are staying in abandoned schools, where classrooms have been converted into one-room shelters now housing entire families.

Households are renting out sheds, some families are staying in unfinished buildings without doors and windows as Syrian refugees face housing shortage in Wadi Khaled (Lebanon).

Concerning the Label Emigrant

By Bertold Brecht

I always found the name false which they gave us: Emigrants.

That means those who leave their country. But we

Did not leave, of our own free will

Choosing another land. Nor did we enter

Into a land, to stay there, if possible for ever.

Merely, we fled. We are driven out, banned.

Not a home, but an exile, shall the land be that took us in.

Restlessly we wait thus, as near as we can to the frontier

Awaiting the day of return, every smallest alteration

Observing beyond the boundary, zealously asking

Every arrival, forgetting nothing and giving up nothing

And also not forgiving anything which happened, forgiving nothing

Ah, the silence of the Sound does not deceive us! We hear the shrieks

From their camp even here. Yes, we ourselves

Are almost like rumours of crimes, which escaped

Over the frontier. Every one of us

Who with torn shoes walks through the crowd

Bears witness to the shame which now defiles our land.

But none of us

Will stay here. The final word

Is yet unspoken.

Berhold Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. In 1933 the Nazis came to power, his books were burned and his citizenship was withdrawn. He left Germany with his family one day after the Reichstag fire and a difficult period of exile began. During the years 1933-1941 he wandered in Austria, Switzerland, France and the Scandinavian countries, staying longest in Denmark. After this he went to the USA and remained there until 1947. He returned to East Germany in 1949.